


Eternity is a Step Away

by novakians



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AOU didn't happen, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, So is Steve, and its beautiful, because that movie was terrible and also they still live in the tower, everyone is really emotional, gay marriage is hella legal and i am hella happy, i don't know i wrote this quickly i was excited, kinda from tony's perspective, kinda not though, warning for one use of a gay slur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 08:32:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4215039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novakians/pseuds/novakians
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tony expected a lot of things to happen. He expected a grunt of displeasure. He expected and heavy sigh, and a <em>back in my day...</em>. He, at very least, expected an eyeroll. He did not on his life expect to see Captain America’s face go from completely stricken to beaming with a smile larger than life. It hardly took a moment for tears to well up in Steve's eyes and quickly begin rolling down his cheeks. Natasha grabbed him in a hug, a matching expression of joy on her face."<br/>-<br/>In which Steve may be old, but that doesn't mean he's the bigoted asshole everyone seems to think he is. He's just really happy, and really in love with his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eternity is a Step Away

Tony was sitting on the couch surrounded by the rest of the team, except for Steve, when he heard the news. He was hardly paying attention, more staring into the distance distractedly. He was immediately pulled out of his thoughts by the news anchor stating, _Supreme Court has declared same sex marriage legal in all fifty states._

Tony’s head then whipped to stare at the tv, a grin breaking across his face. The whole team cheered and clapped.

“About time.”

“It took way too fucking long.”

“Can finally say I'm proud to be an American in a non sarcastic way!”

 _I'm_ _so glad Steve isn't here_ , Tony thought.

“Hey guys,” Steve said. Everyone went abruptly quiet, except for Natasha who greeted Steve and looked at everyone else’s frantic faces questioningly. It’s not like they've ever talked about it, not really, but everyone knew Steve stood for classic American traditions. So it’s not surprising that it was widely assumed and generally expected that Steve Rogers said _No_! to homosexuality.

Steve turned his eyes to the tv, which had just displayed a photo of the Supreme Court Building accompanied by rainbow colored flags. His eyebrows furrowed together. “What’s going on?” He asked, looking from the television to the weary faces of the avengers.

“Look, don't freak out.” Clint put his hand up and gestured to the tv. “Times are a changin’ is all, nothing you can do about it.” Steve gave him a look that read, _the fuck are you talking about?_

“Basically, Cap, you were born a long, long time ago. Very long. And people’s views on things are very different. You're just gonna have to deal with that.” Everyone nodded their heads in assent. Natasha still looked at all of them incredulously.

She then proceeded to stand up and put her hands on Steve’s shoulders, smirking at him. “Rogers. They legalized same-sex marriage. Everywhere.” Steve’s  mouth opened slowly, and then closed. He looked so unbelievably shocked, but his face was nowhere near hard or closed off. On the contrary, he looked soft and vulnerable. Almost resembling a child.

Tony expected a lot of things to happen. He expected a grunt of displeasure. He expected and heavy sigh, and a _back in my day..._ **.** He, at very least, expected an eyeroll. He did not on his life expect to see Captain America’s face go from completely stricken to beaming with a smile larger than life. It hardly took a moment for tears to well up in Steve's eyes and quickly begin rolling down his cheeks. Natasha grabbed him in a hug, a matching expression of joy on her face.

Tony didn't know what to think. He also felt like the world’s biggest asshole, because it seemed like Steve had the opposite of a problem with what was going on. He looked around the room, catching the eyes of others who looked just as surprised and confused as he felt. He hoped they felt like assholes, too. They all kind of deserved to.

“Natasha, I--Oh god. I need,” Steve took in a few large breaths, frantically wiping his face with his sleeves.

“Yeah, Steve. Let’s go.” They were both smiling so widely it looked moderately painful. Steve ran out of the room, Natasha following behind, but she stopped at the door and turned around. “You fools coming? You don’t wanna miss this.”

After awkwardly jogging behind Steve and Natasha for what seemed like a longer time than it actually was, Tony finally figured out where they were headed.

“Oh, shit,” he said.

The rest of the people awkwardly jogging alongside him hummed their agreement.

Finally they made it to Steve’s floor of the tower, and Tony was panting and cursing inwardly at Steve for being too excited to take the elevator, making them all sprint up multiple flights of stairs. They banged through a few doors into empty rooms before finally Steve threw open the correct door. Everyone took in a huge breath as Bucky turned his head around, a smile spreading across his face.

“Hey Stevie!” He then took notice of the rest of the crowd staring at him and beaming. “Oh..and, everyone else. Why're you crying? Why are they sweating?” Bucky stepped closer to Steve, wiping a tear off of his cheek. They stared at each other for a longer than necessary moment, causing Tony to clear his throat to pull them out of their love-stricken thoughts. It worked as Steve abruptly shook his head, and the tears were back.

“Bucky. Bucky, the news said that people in same-sex relationships can get married anywhere in America.” Bucky’s face lit up as he spoke, getting a gentle smile on his face as he looked at Steve adoringly. The smile turned suddenly into astonishment as Steve dropped to one knee in front of him. “James Barnes, when I was thirteen years old I got kicked into a brick wall and called a queer for no reason whatsoever. You were there with me afterwards, holding my hands in yours as I cried and whispering, ‘It'll get better, I promise it will, even if we don't live to see it.’

“At that point in time I knew that we wouldn't live to see it. And hell, we didn’t. We died before we got to see this happen. But it happened, baby. I'm already planning to spend the rest of my life with you, and it would mean the world to me if you agreed to make it official. James Buchanan Barnes, will you marry me?”

Bucky was openly crying at this point, though silently. The entire room held their breath, anxiously waiting for the answer they already knew. “Steve, yes, you idiot. I've waited almost a century to marry you. It would be my honor.”

Steve surged to his feet, kissing Bucky square on the mouth and holding him as tightly as he could without the risk of him breaking in half. Applause rang throughout the room, as some avengers tried and failed to hide their misty eyes. Steve and Bucky took little note of them, though, too busy smiling into each other’s mouths and finally feeling whole.


End file.
